


Conversation Starters

by lionessvalenti



Category: Saved! (2004)
Genre: 5 Things, F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:34:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21844507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionessvalenti/pseuds/lionessvalenti
Summary: Cassandra and Roland have five important conversations.
Relationships: Cassandra/Roland (Saved!)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 48
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Conversation Starters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [edna_blackadder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/edna_blackadder/gifts).



1\. Virginity.

"You know I'm a virgin right?" That probably wasn't the coolest thing to say while Cassandra was sucking a bruise on his neck, but the words still managed to stumble out of Roland's mouth. He was laying on Cassandra Edelstein's bed, with her straddling his lap, and he managed to bring up the topic of his virginity, completely unprompted.

Cassandra stopped what she was doing and pulled back. Her hand was still resting on the other side of his neck. Her eyes narrowed. "How virginal are we talking here? Not like... nothing, right?"

Roland shrugged one shoulder. "How much action do you think happens at prayer circle?"

She sat back on his lap, and Roland was reminded of the common misconception that anyone who was paralyzed couldn't feel anything from the waist down. For some people maybe, but while he couldn't hold up his own weight, he could still feel a lot. At that moment, he could feel the warmth of her, the weight of her body resting on him, and his dick definitely had taken notice.

"Who knows what could happen when a bunch of hormone addled, repressed Jesus freaks have their eyes closed," Cassandra said with a smirk. She ran her finger down the length of his neck. "You know, you could have fingered Veronica in the back of the van. She seems good for it."

Roland snorted. "Oh, you have no idea. But no."

Cassandra's eyes widened. "So, you're like lily of the valley, pure as the driven snow."

"Until today..." He put his hand over her breast and she laughed. "Sure. Not too many people lining up to get with roller boy."

"Their loss." Cassandra tugged at her shirt, popping open the button to reveal the top of her black bra. "Because you know what, roller boy?"

A slow smile spread across his face. "What?"

She leaned in close, pressed her lips to his ear, her breath hot against his skin. "You're not going to be a virgin for much longer."

2\. Kids

Cassandra stumbled into the apartment, her winter coat slipping down one shoulder. "Jesus Christ, I need a nap."

"Baby-sitting not go well?" Roland asked.

"I don't know how Mary does it. I was with the kid for three hours and I want to die. Next time, I'm sending you. I don't care how much she pays."

He laughed. That would probably go better. He liked kids, and if not for the exam he was studying for, he would have joined her. "That sounds like a plan."

She shucked off her coat and threw it on the couch. "You don't want kids for like another fifteen years, right?"

"Fifteen years?" Roland shrugged. "Why not make it twenty?"

Cassandra slung her arms around his neck and kissed the side of his head. "I fucking love you."

3\. Money

"Do you think I could be a stripper?"

Roland blinked down at his statistic textbook, then slowly lifted his head to look at Cassandra. "Why, exactly?"

Cassandra lit up a cigarette. They were supposed to be quitting, but they were always supposed to be quitting. Maybe they'd do better next month. "That's what they said about me at American Eagle, so clearly it's a believably story. And you make better tips stripping than you do waitressing."

"You could always take your clothes off at the restaurant."

She snorted. "I'm serious."

"So am I." When Cassandra didn't laugh, Roland sighed and pushed back from the desk. He rolled toward her. "What's going on?"

Exhaling a breath of smoke, she frowned. "We're barely making ends meet, and I need to think of something -- and don't you say you'll get a job. You do the schooling now so I don't have to work when I'm too fat to be a stripper."

"I'm sure there's a market for fat strippers," Roland replied, and this time she did laugh.

Roland's parents had hardly thought him moving in with his Jewish high school girlfriend was a good idea, but they were still going to pay for his college education, even at a secular school that taught evolution. If he'd gone on without Cassandra, gone to a good, Christian college like Hilary Faye, they would have covered all his expenses. They still insisted every time he saw them, that when he was "ready", he would be welcomed back into the fold.

He was happy to take the free education and run. Figuratively.

"We gotta make more money," Cassandra said. She took a puff and held up the cigarette. "Or we're definitely going to have to quit smoking. Or eating, you pick."

"If you want to be a stripper, I don't think there's anything wrong with that," Roland replied. "But I can get a job and go to school. People do it all the time."

He knew he was responsible for a lot of these financial woes. They couldn't live in any shitty apartment like regular nineteen year olds right out of high school. It had to be accessible. It had to be outfitted for his needs. And that cost money.

"We could do both," Cassandra said. She held up her free hand, and Roland laced his fingers with hers. "Really dig ourselves out of this hole."

"Let's do both."

4\. Family

"You sure you want to do this?" Roland asked. He looked up at the house where he had grown up, a place of general apathy. It could have been worse, he knew that. He could have had parents who hated him, but instead he had parents who resented him. Parents who saw his disability as something that should be bettered, and when they couldn't fix him, they poured thousands of dollars into making Hilary Faye prettier.

And made her worse instead.

Cassandra grinned, not sensing the existential dread Roland was feeling. "Are you kidding me? I've missed the freak show."

He laughed. He'd never faced with with Cassandra at his side. It could only make things better. "Oh, high school is nothing compared to dinner with my parents. And Hilary Faye."

"Oh, she's not so bad anymore," Cassandra said. "I think we've cracked it with old Hay-Faye."

"She still wants to get you saved."

"And good fucking luck to her. Let's get in and out of there, black sheep." She paused, resting a hand on his shoulder. Her expression had gone serious and solemn. "They know I keep kosher, right?"

Roland raised his eyebrows. Just the night before, he'd watched Cassandra demolish a bacon cheeseburger in about five minutes. "That's what I told them. Who knows what we're going to be eating."

She cackled. "It's going to be great."

5\. Marriage

"Do you want to get married?"

Of all of Cassandra's incredible features, her ability to start a conversation was one of Roland's favorites. There was no beating around the bush, just a straightforward shock factor. Even if it was first thing in the morning and Roland wasn't even out of bed yet.

"Sure," he replied, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "At some undetermined point in the future, you mean, right?"

Cassandra leaned against the bedroom door frame. "No. I mean, like... now. Today."

Roland blinked at her a few times. "What's the rush? Oh fuck, you're not pregnant, are you?"

"I think I would have opened with that," she said, rolling her eyes. She pushed off from the wall and sat down next to Roland on the bed. She rolled her neck and then rested her head on his shoulder. "I've spent so much of my life being disaffected. I didn't care. I acted like I didn't care. I made a big show of it."

He took her hand. Only a few people really understood how deeply compassionate Cassandra was. Under all of the wisecracks and walls she built up, she had an incredible capacity to forgive. She was a better person than most of the so-called Christians Roland had known growing up. Jesus didn't make you a good person, _being a good person_ made you a good person. And Cassandra was the best person he knew.

"And what do you want to do about it now?" Roland asked.

"I want to make a big show of it," Cassandra said. She smiled and squeezed his hand. "I know there's a hundred reasons why it's a bad idea. We're young and we're poor as shit. But I want everyone to know that you're the one for me."

"And you're the one for me." Roland kissed the top of her head. "What if it doesn't work out?"

She shrugged. "We'll get a divorce. I'll tell everyone your dick doesn't work."

He laughed. "Then we better stay married forever."

Slowly, Cassandra lifted her head. "So that's a yes?"

"Rally up the witnesses and go to the courthouse. Let's get married."


End file.
